But we must return to the orphan boy at Catania. Having selected a galley of Barcelona for the voyage, Muntaner chose an excellent person as head nurse, a native of the Ampurdan, named Na Ines de Adri, who was experienced in nursing, having had twenty-two children herself. He also engaged a very robust young woman of Catania as wet-nurse, and several maids. These particulars are mentioned to show with what care the old soldier entered upon his new duties. He took with him attested proofs signed by those who were present at the birth and baptism. On the day appointed for sailing Muntaner left the city with the infant in his arms, followed by more than two thousand people. As he was embarking, a messenger arrived from King Federigo with two dresses of cloth of gold as a present to his little cousin. On August 1, 1315, Muntaner made sail from Catania. On arriving at Trapani he received tidings that four galleys were waiting for him, to seize the infant and thus dispose of the heir to Clarencia and Matagrifon. Muntaner therefore took more armed men on board and waited to join a fleet of twenty-four Catalan vessels. He then put to sea. After a few days a storm raged so furiously that seven ships sank and the rest were in great danger. At length he let go his anchor in the port of Salou. The child had never been out of his arms during the whole time that the storm lasted, either by night or day, the nurse being dreadfully seasick; nor could any of the other women stand on their legs.
En Pedro de Rocaberti, the Archbishop of Tarragona, sent good horses to Salou, and the party went by easy stages to Barcelona, where the King of Aragon received them with much hospitality, kissing and blessing the little child. Muntaner caused a litter to be made at Barcelona for the nurse and child, which was borne on the shoulders of twenty men; and so by very easy stages they reached Perpignan in twenty-four days. They proceeded to the castle, where the Queens of Majorca then resided. When they reached the gates Muntaner took the child in his own arms and with great joy brought it into the presence of its grandmother, who, with its aunt-in-law, the reigning Queen, was seated to receive it. ‘God,’ he exclaims, ‘does not give a greater joy than that which my lady the Queen, its grandmother, then felt on seeing the child so well nurtured, with its face wreathed with smiles, and its body wrapped in cloth of gold.’ Muntaner knelt and kissed the hands of the two Queens, making the child do the same. He declared that this was the infant Jayme, son of the Prince En Fernando and of Isabel his wife. Its grandmother then took it in her arms and kissed it many times. Soon afterwards the King of Majorca, who had been in France, arrived at Perpignan, and very joyfully received his nephew, making all the usual rules and regulations for his being brought up as if he was his own son.
It must have been a great relief to En Ramon Muntaner to have performed this last and most responsible duty for his beloved Prince. He had been recruiting for him in Valencia and was in Majorca, preparing to join him, when the sad news of his death arrived. The kind old grandmother, En Fernando’s mother, Esclaramunda de Foix, died in the sane year. Alas! the good Muntaner had preserved a life destined in the years to come to more than the usual share of sorrow, misfortune, and disaster. The child became the unhappy Jayme III., last reigning King of Majorca, Count of Roussillon, Cerdaña, and Conflent, and Lord of Montpellier. He was also Lord of Clarencia in the Morea and of Matagrifon.
Besides little Jayme, Prince Fernando had three illegitimate sons, named Fernando, Pagano, and Sancho. They came to Majorca, and were ever the loyal and devoted brothers and friends of their young master Jayme, in prosperity and in adversity.
CHAPTER X
King Sancho of Majorca
Sancho, the second son of Jayme II., succeeded as King of Majorca on June 4, 1311. He was a just and peace-loving sovereign, beloved by his people, always on excellent terms with his cousins of Aragon, and he reigned prosperously for thirteen years. Majorca was a feudatory of Aragon, with the duty of assisting in the wars of the suzerain; and the King was required to attend the Cortes of the Aragonese kingdom to arrange the nature and amount of aid to be contributed to the feudal overlord.
As a boy Sancho had suffered imprisonment with his brothers Felipe and Fernando, when they were captured by the young tyrant Alfonso III., first at Torrella de Monguin, then at Gerona, and finally at Barcelona, where they were released on Alfonso’s death. The misfortunes of his boyhood were not continued in after-life. His reign was prosperous. On his accession he swore to maintain the privileges and freedom of his people; and the commerce of the island made great progress under his fostering care.
Sancho married Maria, daughter of the Angevin King of Naples, but had no children by her. They both adopted the infant son of the chivalrous younger brother Fernando. The King of Majorca was in a position calling for much tact and diplomatic skill on the one hand, and for energetic defensive measures on the other. He had to be well prepared against attacks of pirates from the coasts of Barbary, to preserve his Continental dominions from French encroachments, and to maintain a good understanding with his cousin of Aragon.
A fleet of armed ships was equipped for defence against piratical attacks, half by the King and half by the Jurados. It consisted of four galleys, two galleots, and several smaller vessels. Later, the atalayas, or watch-towers, were built along the coasts, which gave notice of the approach of an enemy by fire-signals. In 1316 King Sancho proceeded from Perpignan to Avignon for an interview with the Pope respecting French claims on the Barony of Montpellier. The negotiations were transferred to Paris, and a satisfactory settlement was arrived at. With Aragon Sancho continued to maintain the most friendly relations. When the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica was resolved to be undertaken, he attended personally at the Cortes held at Gerona in June 1322 as a feudatory of Aragon. The result was that Majorca contributed twenty new galleys to the expedition, two hundred mounted knights, besides a contingent of foot soldiers. King Jayme II. of Aragon was so much pleased with this evidence of good will on the part of his cousin of Majorca that he expressed his satisfaction by exempting King Sancho from the duty of personal attendance at the Cortes of Aragon.
King Sancho built a castle for his residence in the lovely ravine of Valdemosa, in the mountains on the north-west coast, to the west of Soller. From Palma the way is across the fertile huerta, or garden, for eight miles, when the hilly region is entered. There is terraced cultivation up the mountain-sides with orange-trees and olives; higher up, woods of Aleppo pines; and above them the marble cliffs rise perpendicularly, their irregular outline standing out against the blue sky. The castle stood across the highest part of the pass, a picturesque line of masonry rising from the groves of orange and lemon trees. The first Alcaide, or Castellan, of the castle of Valdemosa was Martin de Muntaner, a relation of the chronicler. Here King Sancho held his court, and here he enjoyed hawking and other sports of the field. He had a special breed of falcons, which was famous all over Europe, and he introduced partridges into the island. Beyond Valdemosa the scenery increases in beauty as the sea on the north side of the island comes in sight. Here was the college founded by Jayme II. at the request of Raimundo Lulio, but soon abandoned. King Sancho suffered from asthma, and he found relief in the climate of Miramar, passing much time in the building which had been erected for an Arabic college. Far below is the sea, the steep slopes descending to it being covered with flowering shrubs and Aleppo pines, while behind the marble cliffs shoot up into peaks and ridges. His infirmity increasing, Sancho was advised to try the climate of his Continental dominions. The heat was very great in the summer of 1324, and he retired to the cooler air of the Pyrenees. There he died in the little village of Santa Maria de Formiguera, in the county of Cerdaña, on September 4, 1324. The King’s body was conveyed to Perpignan, where it was interred in the church of San Juan.